Greater Cambridge Local Plan Issues & Options 2020

Sustainable Development and Where to Build: Thank you for giving us the opportunity to comment on the Greater Cambridge Local Plan. While we are not within the Greater Cambridge area, we are immediately adjacent to it. Gamlingay in South Cambridgeshire is our nearest large village, with basic shops, post office, chemist and doctors’ surgery. Meanwhile Cambridge is important to us for shopping and entertainment and in many cases for employment and schools. We are also on a main route between Gamlingay and Cambridge and therefore experience high levels of rush hour traffic. Your plan will therefore affect us seriously. Sustainable development We note your objective “to ensure sustainable development” and note also your aim of “net zero carbon”. While of course we support both these aims, we would like to point out that any increase in population and hence increase in house building (you propose 2900 new homes per year) will certainly mean increased carbon emission– contrary to your avowed objective – even before we factor in the heating, general living and travel requirements of these extra inhabitants. This extra carbon emission should not be offset by the questionable process of paying off other countries to plant more trees. Where to build? Densification of existing urban areas: If new building must take place, then this is the approach most favoured by this parish council, as it concentrates new homes in the areas where facilities already exist to cope with them and where there is already a functioning public transport system. It also uses brownfield sites, thus reducing environmental devastation. And by concentrating on an existing centre of population, it is less likely to have a negative impact on surrounding villages and parishes Cambridge Airport: We also approve of development at Cambridge Airport, as this is a brownfield site, with similar advantages to the example above. Edge of Cambridge: Green Belt: We do not approve of any development in the Green Belt. This is contrary to your own policy of preserving green spaces and greenfield sites. New settlements: We are absolutely opposed to the creation of new settlements. These use greenfield sites, require a completely new transport system and generally have a devastating effect on neighbouring parishes. The development of Cambourne, for example, led to greatly increased traffic on the A428 with even bigger rush hour jams into Cambridge, the reorganisation of the surrounding road system and the degradation and eventual disappearance of our bus service, as resources were redirected to Cambourne. A further unforeseen consequence was the fact that the station carpark at St Neots would be full to overflowing with commuters from Cambourne to London. This is just one example of how a new settlement can have a negative effect on older surrounding villages. Public transport corridors: We are opposed to any development which uses greenfield sites and erodes the countryside. This would also lead to even greater congestion on the roads into Cambridge. Improving the Green Space network: We applaud your intention of improving the green space network. Surely a start would be to preserve the existing countryside and to prohibit building on greenfield sites. Unfortunately it is cheaper to develop greenfield sites, so incentive must be provided to persuade developers to prioritise brownfield sites. Public Transport: Clearly if the net zero carbon objective is even to be approached, there needs to be a much greater investment in public transport. This is where communities like ours suffer: we used to have a weekday bus service to Cambridge, but it was withdrawn completely some years ago. We realise that this may be outside your remit, as being properly the responsibility of the County Council. However it seems to us that no development should be permitted anywhere, without a regular, frequent and viable public transport system. Failing this all these green commitments are just so many empty words.

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